The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 22, 1991, Page 2, Image 2
Exit
Palms too quick to purge those
associated with Holderman
The casualties of the Holderman regime are piling up. Two
more administrators who have long association with Holderman
are leaving.
While Holderman is now widely known as a corrupt official,
those under him, for the most part, have been faultless. So why is
new President John Palms suspending USC's chief financial officer
John O'Donnell and why is Chris Vlahopolus resigning
under pressure?
Vlahopolus and O'Donnell are taking the blame for Holderman's
transgressions. That is blatantly unfair since no connection
UAn TT-.1 J ! - J 1- mL!
ixaa uccn uiauc uciwccii uicm auu nuiucniuui s misueeus. 1111s is
simply guilt by association, pure and simple. By that logic, George
Bush should have resigned from the Vice Presidency in 1987 for
being around during the Iran-Contra mess.
Arthur Smith will probably be soon to follow. Obviously, Palms
is trying to demonstrate his break from the former administration
by getting rid of the former administration.
This restructuring is good for his public relations, but it is bad
for the careers of the men he is forcing out. At least it distracts
attention from the $90,000 Palms is spending on remodeling the
President's House.
Hopefully the students and supporters will see that all administrators
from the Holderman era don't need to be nursed. Some
? - ? ? r " o
talk abput the so-called "spoils-system," where a new leader gets
rid of the old leader's personnel to make room for his own. Casting-aspersions
on good people's careers is taking this system too
far,'.
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111 Sw V
W MPESIRl/cTiBLE ?
CoHPoM MWEglAL'Social
Securit
With a continuing recession and acute concerns
over U.S. competitiveness, you would
think something would be done about the high
costs of labor and capital in the U.S. Do people
really think Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan can do it all? Not Senator Malcolm
Wallop (R-Wyoming) and Rep. Tom DeLay (RTexas).
Together, they are proposing a package
which would cut Social Security and capital
gains taxes. There is bipartisan support for the
view that a capital gains tax cut would boost the
economy, but Social Security is a much more
emotional topic.
The same people who rail against the middle
class tax burden are often those who don't even
want to hear there is something wrong with the
c? a a... _ii :?>_ ;
ouvim occuiuy system. /aiici au, u s i mining a
surplus, isn't it? Let's take a closer look at the
tax-transfer system the government wants us to
use for our retirement fund.
The Social Security tax, quite apart from its
regressive nature, is a bad tax. It introduces a
"tax wedge" into the labor market which raises
the cost of labor to an employer and reduces the
gains from labor to an employee. The clear result
is employment is reduced below what it
otherwise would be, translating into a lower
gross national product and income tax revenue.
This might not be so bad if the nation really
got something in exchange for it Social Security
is still represented as a retirement" savings
program. If participation was voluntary, workwx
v. primary sc
raoer. collese what
* # # 0 mean the
are prejudiced ???
For exa
ro the editor: News and
I have reviewed your article of ieges that
3-29-91 about Professor Justiz iow ac
which brought to mind a number that artich
3f issues I have thought about that Prof.
USC. school, wh
When I returned to Columbia in norities v
1979, I visited the Russell library schools,
where a white female student was Did Wa
:hecking out books. I was second program ai
io be served. The phone in that de- a copy of 1
partment was ringing. The student find that I
waited on the person ahead of me inferior.
ind then went and answered the dissertatioi
?h?ne. tent or ha:
By the time she returned, America tc
mother white person had appeared, university <
She looked at me and then looked jn 1985,
it the new person and went to the ham Benrn
ind of the counter where the white ment, a p<
person was waiting. I left and went saying mai
0 reference. Upon watching me fired from
leave, she yelled "may I help rights after
pou?" ? a comment I ignored. have alwa;
In reading the Gamecock News- sources, ai
laper, I have not seen it since I make them
.vas last on campus in December. For a n<
your paper is possibly the worst still does i
lewspaper I have seen put out by Black whei
jtudents who had the greatest i would j
imount of resources. hatchet jot
I saw your article wherein you were the p(
indorsed Dean Smith for the new him at the
position of President of the Uni- they say i
/ersity. Was Mr. Smith putting out here?
lis own press. Nowhere was there Your ari
1 checking of credentials, a ques- hints and
ions of what was he doing while many of y
Holderman was practicing things for facts?
esulting in his resignation? The Hoi
And then his obnoxious granting granted to 2
rf honorary degrees to the Holder- tions. It's
nans. I immediately called his of- Gamecock
ice to inquire whether Lee Atwa- with investi
er had ever been granted an hon- Question
irary degree from USC. After excusable
juesuoning wny a citizen wouia what abou
isk such a question, after consider- Board who
ible effort I finally got an answer, tions? Shou
^o, he had not (actually, he had, At the tii
'.d.) Why the rush to give the Hoi- his educati
larmon Aarrroao mhan tliom cKfrnlH -11
iviiuau uvgivvo niivii utviv jiiwuiu upcil IU <111
iave been a full investigation of statistics, v
lis years in office? And the news- graduated c
>aper offered no inquiries. no creden
I saw the Justiz article and it ap- nowadays?
lears to be what is known as sec- I work i
indary research. Why is a news- the univers
laper who is in the midst of its the univrrsi
>HBiSWffiWi
j|| (si Cm/IMY y
: MANUFACTURING THE I
pEpfecr G?NPOM'* |
;y begs for nee
I
ARTHUR C. MAYER
Financial Columnist
ers could determine their own level and method
of savings.
Instead, income is confiscated now in return
for the promise of equivalent future payments
indexed to future wage and price levels. Many
of our senior citizens planned their retirements
around Social Security and therefore did not
taice measures 10 proviae ior tnemseives. inese
beneficiaries are among the "human shields" of
the welfare state, as many would-be budgetcutters
have discovered.
In reality, Social Security is little more than
an income distribution program. There are no
"savings" involved anywhere in it. The tax paid
by today's workers is transferred to retirees
who spend it The current excess of tax revenue
over benefit payouts is used to absorb some of
the federal budget deficit and take the heat off
our politicians.
No reserves are being built up for the day
when the baby boomers start retiring. Benefits
paid in the year 2010 will come out of GNP
2010. The entire system will collapse at that
time unless something is done now to reduce
the projected growth of benefits and to encourage
private alternatives (such as expanded indii-Tp
FDITOR
A- ti.ilniw AhA -JL
>urce merely a rehatch of minatory and sexist. Y
)T articles have said. I paper is reflectiv<
level of ignorance here university,
ints to why for 13 years Mamie I
mple according to U.S. Athletes d
World Report, the colJustiz
attended ranked Vipprl
ademic credentials. Did UtCU U.1U.J
5 also state at the time
Justiz was attending To the editor:
a# thn /1.1/nfn iaiiai /vm A nri 1 T7' c oHitAriol iii
at U1U 4UUld it/VCi U1I IIU- if o vuiu/iiai rr
/ere at high academic gest bunch of garbage I
read in The Gamecock
itts contact his masters tainly are ties for a clo:
[id doctoral, and receive It was a ridiculous, whir
his papers presented and to show why collegi
they were intellectually should be paid ? yes, P
fas his reasoning in his First, the article starts
i off, sources nonexis- lege athletes are suppos
s it become a crime in tice, play to the best of t
> attend a certain type of and still keep up their gr
or college. keep up their grades? 1
, he was fired by Wil- tough about keeping a
ett. A political appoint- average? Anyone wh
riitical firing. Is Watts class should be able to
ly of us who have been not, he or she should
previous jobs have no college.
then to be employed? I Here's more: "Som
ys questioned unnamed have little money for oi
ter all one can always vities . . . food and sh
up. much for the sacrifice I
jwspaper who in 1991 make to the schools,
not capitalize the term wrong with a little pa
i used as a proper noun, full-time work in the (
greatly question your Now that kind of puts a
> done on Justiz. Who on things, doesn't it?
arsons who worked with All these athletes I
s University, what did think they get enough c
ibout his performance ranks of students who \
30 or more hours a we*
tide includes a lot of long (we have little mon
innuendoes, but how side activities too!),
our staff have checked Another good one: "I
to some universities
Iderman story can be name isn't exactly fair
t law student for her ac- tion." Fair compensat
too bad the university said life was fair? N
itself didn't follow up NCAA or any universit)
gation. athlete diddly! And who
. If Holderman is not sign with that "some uni
for his conduct, then the first place?
t the members of the If someone wanted m<
rubber stamped his ac- and run around with a
Id they not also resign? hands, or swim, or wh
me Justiz was pursuing room, board and a free
on, America was not I'd be glad to! It'd se
I its citizens. And the picnic and more than fail
/ere they for when he The editor alleges t
>r for 1991? Are there shame the universities
tials in newspapers this money on sporting
don't share it with the al
)art-time temporary at cause the masses are rej
ity, and I have found to see "awesome athleti
ty to be racist, discri- assumedly displayed by I
?^ ,
^ YV<
AIR
, =f=^ (
} o.s. ' ^
i hpwio r^=] ?
Pur on a f* '
S coND?M;
^ *?& z:A^Kp
| W+
ded reform
vidual retirement accounts) to Social Security.
When Democratic Senator Moynihan introduced
his payroll tax cut last year, Republicans
opposed it for fear of enlarging the budget deficit
Meanwhile, President Bush's capital gains
tax initiative was thwarted by Congressional
"fairness" demagoguery.
Now, Wallop-DeLay, though not perfect, offers
an excellent opportunity to promote economic
growth with a capital gains tax cut and
fairness through a Social Security tax cut for
working people. If past experience is any guide,
the capital gains cut would stimulate economic
activity and raise revenue. Since labor markets
are slower to respond than capital markets, the
payroll tax cut would lose revenue in the short
term.
There are many politicians and voters alike
who don't want to tamper with Social Security.
Leaving it alone, however, will guarantee a fu
ture meltdown while imposing a harmful tax
burden on the nation's workers along the way.
Our government should be urged to lower the
excessive costs of labor and capital with tax
cuts, reduce the budget deficit with real spending
cuts and get Social Security off the road to
disaster by scaling down benefit growth and allowing,
if not encouraging, private alternatives.
Defenders of the "status quo" wouldn't like it,
but the rest of us would be better off.
'' , '' /' ' | m
our news- under-compensated athletes. Folks
; of the don't buy tickets to see ability
(lord knows, USC's athletic deJaekson
partment would never have been
^ j around this long),
oirt They go to events to tailgate a
little and maybe see some good
[J 1 y hall from the school they support
J If these athletes the editor speaks
of were so "awesome," they
would've bypassed college for a
oo ttiA Kirr_ i .i i j
ao pro career oecause mey wouia
have ever have been drafted. Hint: truly awe(there
cer- some ^ Bo or Jordan on the tube
se second). for free ? they get paid for a
ley attempt reason.
i athletes Now let's look at this from an
AID. ECON 101 point of view. College
: off, "Col- sports are big business, no doubt
ed to prac- But who's going to end up paying
heir ability these salaries to these athletes?
ades"Still The schools, that's who. So supWhat
is so pose the NCAA sets a standard
simple 2.0 "salary" for a Divison I school.
0 attends The school forks over to its athdo
that; if letes (because if it doesn't, the athnot
be in ietes either won't play or the
school won't have any).
ie players Who ends up forking out to the
iitside acti- school (that money has to come
elter isn't from somewhere, children!)? And
the players <jo you know where? Right. From
What's ^ supporters, which means MO'
irt-time or MONEY, MO' MONEY, MO'
>ff-season? MONEY for the schools and less
1 new twist for you and me. Does this system
guarantee under-the-table, private
;hat don't "contributions" will stop? HELL
an join the NO.
vork 20 to it's a simple fact that everybody
sk all year looks out for Number One, and if
ey for out- 0ne stands to make his or her posi
tion better by giving or getting a
*ull tuition little cash in hand, he or she will
one could do so. Case closed,
compensa- So as we can all see, college
ion? Who athletes are probably not as bad off
either the as the editor would have had us
' owes any believe. Didn't anyone see "Field
decided to 0f Dreams?" Isn't anybody glad
versity" in just to be able to play the games at
all, whether they're getting some
5 to suit up compensation or not?
ball in my We need to nip this absurd idea
latever for in the bud before we end up with a
education, lot of self-absorbed, prima donna
em like a "pseudo-athletes" who could care
r to me. less aoout playing ine game, ana
hat it's a like spoiled children when the
make all game is not played exactly to their
events and liking, will take up their balls and
thletes, be- go home until their demands are
illy paying met.
ic ability," Christy Whitlock
these poor, Political science senior